Bam! It suddenly registers in your head. Not my son! You practically scream it. We come from a long line of red-blooded men who treat wives like chattels. How could “my” son be one of “them?”

You tell yourself that he will grow out of it. It is only a phase, and mom generally knows before dad does.

Women sense these things. However, it is what it is.

So how will you handle the situation? He is your son and you love him. Enough to accept who he is?. It is a fact and his future health and self-identity will depend on how you treat him. You can take the attitude that he will never spend another night under “your” roof or send him to a therapist or some religious camp where you are treated like a pariah until all your self-worth is chased out of your mind and body.

I knew one young man whose father was so adamant that he became a real man that he immediately shipped his “sick” son off to a military school to cure him. You can imagine how that went.

I recently spoke to a therapist and here’s what she said. “I’ve had so many cases where the parents give their child the mental ice-water treatment instead of nurturing their son into adulthood, shutting him out of any humane family life. When they show up in my office, it is the parents that need me most, not the teenager.

“I have noticed that there is one gay in the family and one addict; sometimes, they are one and the same. Sadly, drugs become their freedom.”

These youngsters receive more understanding from their grandparents as a rule. Not always, but often.” Teenage gays, male or female, are the only minority group (lousy use of the phrase) who have no one waving the flag for their cause.

I have a friend whose daughter is gay. She has been after me for months to write about teenage gays. They have each other, she says, and hope there will be someone in the family they can turn to.

The truth is, they turn to each other. The Governor of Florida declared, “No gay anything in the Florida school system. Isn’t he the same one who complained about race?

Maybe you didn’t know, but young gays have one of the highest rates of teenage suicide.

Folks, being gay is not a lifestyle; you are who you are like any other human being. Lifestyle is what you do with who you are. Get a life!

Raymond Strait – Hemet

Rusty Strait | Senior Reporter

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We scurried down the hill to check things out. It turned out an ambulance had been called but that was it. The parents had not been notified, so Bob climbed back up the ravine to get cell phone reception and make the calls while I stayed at the bottom with the teens. Another young gal had also made her way to the bottom and while I stood there, the three of them talked about going to the river and partying. I could hardly believe what I was hearing – this teen could have major injuries and they still wanted to party on. Finally, I spoke up and said, “I think we need to pray.” Instantly and without hesitation, all three bowed their heads on cue. Well, I thought, guess we’re praying, and I did. I prayed a hearty prayer and we all ended with an enthusiastic Amen!

2 Timothy 4:2 tells us to “Be ready in season and out.” Another translation reads: “Be ready whether it’s convenient or inconvenient.” What does that mean? We should always be prepared to allow the living water of Jesus to flow out of us and minister, whether it’s a good time for us or not. We are to love people when they least expect it.

In John 7, Jesus stood before a crowd of people and proclaimed this: If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Jesus wasn’t talking about a natural thirst when He shouted these words. He was talking about spiritual thirst. The Holy Spirit is like rivers of living water, meant to flow into us and out to the world.

When Bob and I first came to this valley in 1974, we lived on a ranch back in the foothills of Soboba. We were dependent on wells for our water. My first few days out there were eye-opening. There was so much iron and minerals in the water that it was brown. Hard to get used to and I often boiled it just to be on the safe side! Water is universally a big deal and absolutely essential for all forms of life.

So, when Jesus shared about having living water, people paid attention. They all knew of the Dead Sea not far away, so named because it contains no fish or plant life. There are zero outlets of this body of water so water pours in but nothing flows out! Inlets plus no outlets equals a dead, lifeless sea.

This can also apply to Christ-follows today. We are living in a dry and thirsty land right now, even though nearly every household in America has access to Bibles, a church, and Christian TV. But that’s not enough! We can burp out Bible verses all day long but if we are not ministering out the love of Christ, we are children of the Dead Sea. If you are a Christ-follower, your story has power. It’s personal. It can be shared over lunch, at the gym or on a dog walk.

There’s an interesting account of a wealthy Christian lady living in Kenya who had a young man employed as her houseboy. After about three months, he asked the lady for a letter of reference to a Muslim family a few miles away. The lady didn’t want him to leave just as he was getting the hang of household duties, so she offered to increase his pay. But the young man told her he wasn’t leaving for more money. He said he had decided to either become a Christian or a Muslim. This was why he had come to work of her in the first place – he wanted to see how Christian’s act.

Now he wanted to work for the sheik to observe the ways of the Muslims. Then he would make his decision of which way of life he would follow. The Christian lady was stunned as she thought about all the times she had blown it with the houseboy.

As he was leaving, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me at the beginning?” But – alas – too late. As Alistair Begg has noted, “Our witness – good or bad – is the overflow of our lives.” You are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read – so, be well-read!

Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard, Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCityChurch.org

Susan Beckett | The Dwelling Place City Church

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An old truism exists in broadcast journalism that “there’s a story around every corner.” I first learned that in 1996 but, unfortunately, I just learned it again today. Russian bombs and bullets, and Putin’s psychotic ego, have destroyed one of the very few good things to come out of a worldwide disaster 35 years ago.

In 1996, I covered the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Through contacts with the Swedish missionary caring for the families of the Chernobyl firefighters who died during the meltdown, my team had exclusive access inside one of the two then still operating nuclear reactor control rooms at Chernobyl. It sounds incredible now, but ten years after the first meltdown, the need for power in the aftermath of the Soviet Union was so great that two of the four original Chernobyl reactors were still operating.

It’s easy to get coldhearted and jaundiced after decades of covering disaster after disaster but being the only Western journalists allowed within 30 miles of the plant, actually being inside the plant, interviewing a senior reactor operator who was on duty the night of the meltdown ten years earlier created lasting memories. His description of what really happened the night of the meltdown is a story for another time.

Disasters often create heroes. Six firefighters stayed inside the intensively radioactive building trying to contain the nuclear Armageddon. Within 3 hours, they paid for their heroism with their lives. The physician who remained at the plant, trying to save them and the lives of others, was also a true hero. Luckily, he survived. As an acknowledgment of his dedication and the severe physical limitations caused by his radiation exposure that night, he was later made medical director of what we would call a nursing home on the outskirts of Kyiv.

One of the core concepts of the Soviet Union was every comrade was equal and “enjoyed” the same level of misery. This nursing home was an exception. It was clean, the patients well cared for, the food was good, and patients enjoyed regular activities and entertainment. Due to the lack of even the most basic medical supplies, the medical director was forced to practice what he called “low-tech, high touch” medicine. He didn’t have medical miracles to offer them, but he knew every one of the 250 patients by name, saw each every day, and would always kiss each one on the cheek or forehead when leaving. American physicians cramming as many patients as possible into every hour could learn a lot from him.

Two particular events will stick in my mind forever. First, as we interviewed one patient who spoke some English, another man approached us. The word “journalist” (with a French-sounding pronunciation), is well understood worldwide. The old man asked me one question; “Jurnaleest?” I answered, “Da, da, da. Americanski journalist.” Suddenly, the old man seemed to grow 6 inches in height and promptly proclaimed himself “Rodina (Motherland) Journaleest!”

He rushed to his room and returned with a scrapbook of weathered photographs. With translations provided by a nurse, the old man explained he was Marshall Zhukov’s personal photographer. This weathered old man had fought his way from Stalingrad to Berlin, photographing the horrors of war as he did. His darkroom was a poncho-covered foxhole on moonless nights. You could watch him drift back in time as he gazed at the pictures. He would eventually remember the names, and then sadly remember how and where they died.

Regardless of the side on which they fought, something about old soldiers makes them very special. Regardless of whether history approves or disapproves of their cause, there is honor in being willing to defend that cause with your life.

When we left him, the nurse told us he was terminally ill with cancer, with about a month to live. She said, however, by listening to his stories, we were the best thing that had happened to him in a year. She said, “You Americans have helped this proud old Ukrainian man die with the dignity he deserves.”

The memories don’t stop there. After lunch, a youth group from a local synagogue came to entertain the residents. These kids, with their bright, shiny faces, were dressed in traditional Ukrainian garb. Just seeing them put smiles on the faces of the old, infirm patients packing the auditorium.

The teen group performed a traditional Ukrainian folk dance for the first number, complete with musical accompaniment. The patients were delighted and applauded politely at the end of the performance.

The second musical number was something entirely different. The small vocal group broke into an English-language rendition of the 1950s’ rock ‘n’ roll hit “Rock Around the Clock.” Suddenly, every patient who was not in a wheelchair, and even some who were, leaped up and began to dance wildly in the aisles. Visually, you could have been at a 1957 high school sock hop. Patients who a minute earlier seemed barely ambulatory suddenly became teenagers again. John Travolta in “Grease “had nothing on these oldsters. It was like watching a replay of Kevin Bacon in the last scene of “Footloose.” If the Ukrainian government could have bottled the energy in the room at that moment, they could’ve replaced all the power they lost when Chernobyl exploded.

At the end of the song, the patients all sat, or actually, “plopped” back into their seats for another folk dance. But just when we thought nothing could top “Rock Around the Clock,” the kids from the synagogue broke into “Hand Jive.” Suddenly, the audience was all dancing teenagers again. It was as if their old bodies had been recharged. Life was fun again!

So, although our exclusive access to the Chernobyl plant created a great story, with incredible video, the other “story around every corner” of the nursing home is the one I will never forget. It was the one “good” story of the week.

But although that memory will remain with me forever, the source of the story is now demolished. Mr. Putin’s need to inflict terror and carnage on the Ukrainians drove him to bomb and destroy that nursing home and most people resided there. Putin’s bombs hit it repeatedly Thursday night. Some claim there were no casualties. I doubt it. Bombs kill people, especially old people.

Much of the past two weeks of terror has been so Putin can look in the mirror and see a “tough guy,” even if the rest of the world sees a murderous psychopathic thug.

Many of the residents in their now-destroyed last home were old soldiers, both men and women, the last remnants of those Ukrainians willing to give their lives to protect Rodina in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War, WWII. And now many are dead so Mr. Putin can prove to doubting Russians and his mistresses that he really is a tough guy.

Some may actually think of Putin as a tough guy. But, to me, he is nothing but a murderous son of a bitch, and I know where the bodies are to prove it.

Ed Sherdlu | Contributed

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According to most estimates, global sea levels rose by five inches in the 20th century. That’s five inches for the entire century, not per year. That is the most recent century we have as a basis for future predictions.

Climate scientists believe that ocean levels will rise at twice that rate through the 21st century, but they have been wrong about many things, and their behavior often appears to be politically motivated. One can speculate about the future, but the past does not lie.

In a few locations, such as Venice, Italy, five or ten inches might make a difference in a city’s daily life. In Omaha or Nashville, it really doesn’t matter. In fact, there’s practically no place in America where a modest rise in sea levels will make a difference in one’s way of life. But a rise in gas prices will — as will higher taxes to pay for addressing climate change, despite the fact that human efforts will not actually prevent the climate from changing.

In his latest research, Bjorn Lomborg shows that “US climate policies, in the most optimistic circumstances, fully achieved and adhered to throughout the century, will reduce global temperatures by 0.031°C (0.057°F) by 2100.” Not one degree or one-tenth of one degree. That’s half of one-tenth of one degree if we entirely eliminate fossil fuels, restrict growth and travel, dramatically reduce meat consumption, and make other sacrifices necessary to comply with the Paris Agreement for the next 80 years — and beginning immediately.

Biden believes that the sacrifice is worth it, so it was a centerpiece of his speech last week. But the almost immediate elimination of fossil fuels will bring power outages, an end to economic growth and prosperity, and shorter life expectancy (as Americans live in the cold; drive smaller, more dangerous cars; and suffer from less medical research and poorer treatment).

Worst of all, restrictions on domestic oil and gas drilling leave us beholden to Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, and with no strategic leverage abroad. The costs of the Paris Agreement are immense, while the benefit, as Lomborg shows, is negligible at best. Remarkably, in the best-case scenario, and if the Paris Agreement were fully implemented not just by Europe and the U.S., but by China, India, and other developing countries, these sacrifices will have no perceptible effect. We will have sacrificed our prosperity, our military strength, our health, and our happiness for nothing.

Progressives want to spend whatever it takes to alter the climate, but it is impossible to alter the climate even in one hundred years. It is a fool’s errand, and more so because the world’s other largest carbon emitters — China, India, and Russia — are not participating.

Wouldn’t we be better off lowering taxes and allowing local governments to deal with rising seas if they continue to rise? Low areas in many places can be defended with sea walls. Others that lie far below sea level would be better off abandoned. As nature slowly warms the planet, we have the ability to deal with it as long as we have the revenue to do so. As nature cools the planet, as it certainly will again, we must deal with that, too. But we cannot deal with the natural cycles of warming and cooling if government makes us poor. Sea walls are expensive, as are properly insulated homes and businesses that protect against the cold.

Radicals would have us spend far more than we do today to “combat climate change,” a fictitious phrase since, according to the liberal website fivethirtyeight.com, the hundreds of billions we have spent since 1993 to prevent climate change have not prevented climate change at all. In fact, according to the OMB, “94 percent of the money was going to programs that weren’t primarily focused on climate change.” Spending in the name of climate change has been a shambles since “government doesn’t keep good track of how much it’s spending,” and much of the money just seems to disappear.

Where does climate change spending go? To career politicians like Joe Biden, to the Democrat party, to tens of thousands of academics and “climate experts,” to a growing climate bureaucracy, and to simple graft and corruption. No wonder Democrats support the Paris Agreement — it’s Pigs at the Trough for progressives.

Now climate change activists are talking about spending not hundreds of billions, but ten trillion, as much as half of our current annual GDP. It is reasonable to assume that much of that money — as much as 94% — will disappear as well. If it does, that will be the greatest theft in human history. Ninety-four percent of $10 trillion is roughly $50,000 for every American adult. And that’s in addition to even greater compliance costs shifted onto local communities, businesses, and individuals.

The real threat to the U.S. is not climate change; it is, as always, the danger of war and of economic decline, both of which will affect us if war spreads beyond Ukraine into eastern Europe. Spending trillions of dollars on climate change weakens America’s ability to deal with its adversaries and to attract and secure allies. We have already spent hundreds of billions on climate change without knowing where that money went — not, according to the OMB, into actual climate change efforts (which, according to Bjorn Lomborg, would not perceptibly change the Earth’s climate anyway).

As a nation, we are weaker and poorer as a result of climate change spending. As individuals, we will have less money to fund education, housing, consumer spending, health care, and other vital activities, or just to spend as we like. In his State of the Union speech, Biden promised a cure for cancer, but by spending more on climate change, we ensure less medical research as funding is sucked out of the private sector. Those who focus on the narrow issue of climate change are callously ignoring this fact, and the even greater suffering should the U.S. be defeated by China or another adversary in a future war. The U.S. can deal with rising seas of five inches or even ten inches per century, but we cannot deal with enslavement by another nation, which is what liberals have disregarded.

There are many countries that lie partially below sea level and have built secure sea walls to protect their land. Many of these countries are increasing their efforts, as has Holland, which has spent many billions of dollars on an innovative series of dams to protect against rising seas in the future. If the Dutch people really believed that the Paris Agreement could lower the seas, they would not be spending that money. Instead, they are following the prudent course of protecting themselves, regardless of future outcomes.

Unlike Holland, the U.S. is in danger of not spending where necessary, and of spending vast amounts where not necessary. It is impossible to predict the future of the Earth’s climate. In just a few years, warming can shift to cooling, and problems like rising seas can be replaced by extreme cold, failing crops, and falling seas, which would be a major problem for coastal areas, harbors, and the Panama and Suez canals.

What we must do is lower taxes and eliminate government spending so individuals can protect themselves and allow local governments to build dikes and dams to protect against modestly rising seas.

Historically, the U.S. GDP has increased by a factor of nine every century. That will not continue if we decide to squander half of our economy on climate spending. Our great-grandchildren could be living with average real, inflation-adjusted annual incomes of $572,000 per capita instead of $63,500 if only we restrain government spending on climate change and nearly all else.

Or they could be living on $6,000 per year as economic slaves to China. It’s our choice. Either way, it’s not rising seas that are most worrying. It’s our freedom and prosperity. Spending on climate change threatens both.

Jeffrey Folks | Contributed

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In his book Mein Kampf he told the world exactly what he planned to do, but most people treated it as a new novel. However, political minds were quickly changed after he remilitarized the Rhineland (1936) and annexed Austria (March 1938).

In September that year, British and French leaders signed the Munich Agreement, ceding the Sudetenland to Germany in return for Hitler’s promise to resolve all future conflicts peacefully.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned to London, proudly proclaiming one of the most untrue statements of all time. “Peace in our time!”.

Hitler’s promise was like pie crust, quickly broken. In March 1939, he dismantled the Czechoslovak state. Britain and France immediately guaranteed the integrity of the Polish State. Threats were made against Hitler. He ignored them. He was hell-bent for leather to have a war.

On April 28th, 1939, he withdrew from the non-aggression pact signed with Poland. He then signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in August 1939 (to cover his backside). The deal with the Soviets permitted the Germans to attack Poland without fear of Soviet intervention.

On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, using a contrived excuse that Poland, Great Britain and France were planning to dismember Germany.

On September 1st, 1939, Germany’s surprise attack caught much of the world off guard. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17th. Ten days later, Warsaw surrendered to the Nazis.

The Nazi hordes soon occupied most of Europe. World War II had begun. I remember it. I was there. What remains of WWII veterans remember it, too.

Sound familiar? I thought so.

Raymond Strait – Hemet

Rusty Strait

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Here is your Hemet City Treasurer’s speech:

My name is Sue Savage, I am Hemet’s City Treasurer whom the citizens of Hemet voted for and elected a year ago.

You overturned the vote of the people in March of last year and appointed the City Manager to invest Hemet citizens’ money.

Not a single City Council member has made an attempt to restore the vote of the people nor show some respect for the taxes Hemet citizens must pay.

Last January I gave four treasurer reports. One of the reports was: “ Hemet is not poor. Where is all the money coming from?”

First, A little history. Six years ago, Hemet was investigated for bankruptcy by the state of California. Then Hemet passed measure U, taking Hemet‘s portion of sales tax from $.01 to $.02, doubling Hemet’s share of sales tax. Back then Hemet had $57 million in the bank.

Everyone talks about how poor Hemet is. Our police department stands up here meeting after meeting and begs for a raise. Our city employees have marched with picket signs begging for a raise. All of us drive on our Hemet streets and we know what they’re like.

Does a city going from $57 million then to about $155 million now sound like a poor city to you? Two years of the pandemic has left other cities complaining about no money.

Last year’s Treasurer Report asked: “where is all this money coming from? And how do we know it actually isn’t even more?”

Hemet’s City Council appointed City Manager, Chris Lopez, and Staff, Lorena Rocha, to invest Hemet taxpayer dollars. Chris Lopez and Lorena Rocha have not made a report on Hemet’s money in 11 months. Tonight, as city treasurer, again I ask: “Where are the legally required Treasurer Reports for the last 11 months?”

The citizens of Hemet are forced by City Council to pay Hemet taxes. The taxpayers deserve a report on their money.

So, tonight, Hemet’s Treasurer is giving a “Mini-Treasurer report”.

Last year, $117,005.11 in interest was paid to Hemet citizens in January. Hemet had $107,601,742.42 million in the bank and I was investing as City Treasurer.

This year $66,505.61 in interest was paid to Hemet citizens in January. Hemet has $155,279,811.16 million in the bank. The City Manager, Chris Lopez and Finance Director, Lorena Rocha are doing the investing.

Hemet earned $50,499.50 less under Lopez/Rocha than when I was investing. Why? Because Malcolm Lilienthal, Joe Males, Russ Brown, Linda Krupa and Karlee Meyer overturned the vote of the people.

Hemet has more money in the bank, during the pandemic. This year alone, Hemet has $47,678,068.74 more in the bank. Christopher Lopez and Lorena Rocha earned half the interest on nearly $50 million dollars more in the bank.

What is Christopher Lopez, Lorena Rocha, Malcolm Lilienthal, Karlee Meyer, Joe Males, Russ Brown, Linda Krupa and Stephen Graham costing Hemet citizens?

The $155 million Hemet citizens have in the bank could be earning 2 1/2 million dollars in annual interest. This is costing Hemet citizens $208 Thousand each month.

Let me repeat, $208,000 every month is the cost to Hemet citizens.

It would be nice if the City Council, City Manager and Finance Director could show respect and earn Hemet citizens their 2 1/2 million dollars interest on their money. Better yet, put the Treasurer back in charge and put her to work earning the interest.

Sue Savage, Hemet City Treasurer working hard for Hemet citizens

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In 1998, I was in the U.S. Army and had been serving as an analyst/interrogator with a focus on Iraq. I spoke Arabic fluently and was tasked to debrief an Iraqi defector. He was anxious about his status in the U.S. and the fate of his family back home, so, with his permission, I prayed for him — not only for his sake but to calm him down so we could finish the debrief. He had already asked whether I was a Christian and was very vocal about his Christian practice, so there was little risk of alienating him. After the prayer, he calmed down, and I collected a significant amount of information.

Even though my prayer fell under routine rapport-building, officers at the intelligence agency in Washington, D.C., where the debrief took place, and my superior at my local command treated my prayer as a national security threat. My superior ensured that my follow-on assignment to an agency position was canceled.

I fought this decision since it set a precedent that Christians can be excluded and discriminated against on the whim of a superior. The Department of Defense (DoD) directive on religious accommodation requires the command to explain how my prayer “adversely affects mission accomplishment, including military readiness, unit cohesion, good order, discipline.” I asked the DoD to explain how this was the case. Instead of applying the directive to my case, they came up with pretexts to punish me for daring to defend myself, similar to how the DoD is punishing those now who request a religious exemption from taking the vaccine.

After the chaplain was ignored, the inspector general waffled, and the Equal Employment Opportunity was subverted, I contacted my then–U.S. representative, Charles Canady. The Army/agency changed their story multiple times along the way, ending with a letter from the director of the agency stating that my actions “could have resulted in the loss of a valuable intelligence source.” That my actions enhanced rapport and led to additional information was irrelevant. I was left with the decision to put either my faith or career first. In August of 2000, I separated from the Army, with nearly seventeen years of service.

So, at 39, with a wife and four children, I was on my own. Although I was not on my own. In 1983, I joined the Army after being called by God. I was inspired by Psalm 138:2: “He [God] has magnified His word above all His name.” If the Creator of the universe will submit to His own Word, to His own Laws, then it followed that good government would also submit to a constitution, with no arbitrary rulers above the law. Our God-inspired constitutional freedoms and rule of law should be protected and were worth putting my life in harm’s way to defend. My military service was my ministry. Staying in after this discrimination would have made me just a mercenary.

After some contract work for the U.S. government in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, I established an Arabic-English translation practice, thanks to the training I had received while in the military.

My business is now in its twentieth year. It hasn’t been without its battle scars. My wife went through the roller coaster of years of appeals, and the financial uncertainty of starting over was traumatizing. We had to use our home as security to finance business start-up costs. Sometimes my wife’s family helped us out, and we had the prayers of family and friends.

There was also joy — the joy of having stood strong for our Lord when challenged; the joy of setting an example for our children; and the joy of seeing God come through for us, one way or another. We just kept going and lived day to day, promise by promise. After twenty years, we looked back over our shoulders and said, “Wow! By the grace of God, He brought us through!”

As you face this decision, your life will have different details, but the lack of an income applies to all. Jehovah has a different economic system from the world’s system. Consider Psalm 41:

Blessed is he that considered the poor: The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth; and thou will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make his bed in his sickness.

This verse says that if you consider the poor, God will deliver you in time of trouble. We are living in a time of trouble. A verse like this can be difficult to take in. We all want everything explained to us. God does not say how he will deliver you; how it happens will be different every time.

Recently, law enforcement and firefighters in Seattle were terminated and responded by feeding the poor. God is much bigger than the U.S. government. He has his ways of taking care of you. You never know where your support can come from, so don’t let pride frustrate God’s ways to provide for you. Traumas can heal, and debts can be repaid. Standing up for what you believe in is eternal.

Bill Tierney is an ATA-certified Arabic-English translator. He can be reached at billtierney@verizon.net.

Bill Tierney | Columnist

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It would sure be great if these reporters would check out the facts surrounding Jan. 6 before propagating these continued myths – the facts are out there if you take the time to look. But, as the saying goes, if you repeat a lie long enough, people will eventually believe it.

First – how many people know that the Capitol building was evacuated because of a bomb threat, not because of demonstrators. We know this because former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified to it earlier this year. Wonder why the major news outlets ignored this fact?! The Washington Examiner reported this in February, “The discovery of a pipe bomb outside the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Jan. 6 prompted police to evacuate two congressional buildings, not, as was believed, the attack on the US. Capitol.”

Another important fact that most of our media are not bothering to report is that no one at the event has been charged with “insurrection.” A public search of the charging documents for those involved in the Jan 6th demonstrations reveals exactly zero charges for “insurrection,” “treason” or “rebellion.” If this were truly a “coup” attempt or an “insurrection,” as much of the media continues to report, then any rational person would think that charges would have been brought by this time! Instead, charges such as “Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority” or “unlawful entry” are being filed. Gosh – wonder why we haven’t heard that?

There is so much more to the persistent false reporting, but space here has its limitations. People may not have liked President Trump’s Tweets, but he sure gave the United States a boost on every front! It was definitely “America First” with him – not “America Last” as we are currently experiencing!

I will agree with Mr. Strait on one thing – he said: “Beware who you follow down a rat hole because there may be many rodents there thinking of you as tonight’s meal.” Innocent people today are indeed being led down a rat hole – unfortunately, it’s one they recently voted for.

There’s a phrase that’s been around a long time – “Truth in Advertising.” Federal law says that when consumers see or hear an ad, whether it’s on the internet, radio or TV, the ad must be truthful, not misleading. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a Federal law governing truth in reporting too?!

Susan Beckett

Hemet, CA

Susan Beckett | Contributed

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Something terrible came over the world, a pandemic – medical – economic. Stores shut down, factories closed their doors and folks like us looked to the great genius who would lead us back to prosperity.

This great leader corralled an army of supporters who never disagreed with him for fear of being exiled out of the party, never more to be heard of. His troops stormed the land and finally made their leader a dictator who could do whatever he wanted without any penalty.

In due time he lost his power, brought his country down to nothing more than rack and ruin and finally ended his life all alone.

January 6, 2021, was a day like another day when masses of a leader’s followers (urged on by his close allies) stormed the United States capital, screaming death to the speaker of the house of representatives and calling for the vice-president to be hung. People died. Congress hid from the throng. It almost ended democracy as we know it. There’s a parallel here. The faraway country and the leader was Adolph Hitler. We know where that went. Oh, you say, it couldn’t happen here. We have institutions. So did Germany. Beware who you follow down a rat hole because there may be many rodents there thinking of you as tonight’s meal. Hitler’s great claim was, “I will make Germany great again.” It doesn’t matter who pops out of the boiling kettle; our precious republic could very easily go the way of Germany. We have COVID and plenty of discontent. In 1933 the world had a great depression with the same kind of unrest and anger.

I’m stating any personal political philosophy because it could happen with anybody who is overly ambitious and amasses the power to enforce a particular brand of leadership by promising the moon and serving up green cheese. Be careful of the diamond ring – it might be a cheap imitation from Woolworth’s

Raymond Strait – Hemet

Rusty Strait | Senior Reporter

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Today, your president is crazy or worse; my president is always right; you’re a racist or you’re a white extremist. Try not to repeat the past but to learn from it what not to be and do. Think towards a better future. Wait a minute. We are all, to some degree, products of the past. That does not mean we should be blamed for the mistakes made by generations before us. Why should we tear down statues that remind of us of past disasters? Those statues should be there to remind us not to make the same mistakes again. Whatever happened to the idea that we had a fight today but tomorrow, we forgot about it and continued to be friends. No, not today. If we disagree today, we hate forever. We turn causes into fanatical relations. Black lives matter; White supremacists. Two forms of what we call modern racism. Some will say that is the way they were born. Not true. In the famous musical, “South Pacific,” there was a song that said, “Prejudice must be carefully taught.” Why do we hand all that garbage down to our next generation? It creates hate, not love.

The only way we escape the past is by teaching our youth to go in a different direction. Have you noticed how our young people are a lot more accepting of the differences in their peers? Races mingling together, despite the dead prejudices of their forefathers. Straight and gay hanging out together as human beings. Time to stop shoving our rotten habits and hates down the throats of a generation trying to escape all that crap. Neighbors used to be neighborly. Today, folks who have lived next door to one another don’t know who their neighbors are and don’t care.

We are a nation of self-satisfying individuals and if we are not careful, we will destroy everything we’ve ever had dear. Remember what Ben Franklin said at the beginning of our American journey, “We have a Republic if we can keep it.” We will sorely miss it if we lose it.

Raymond Strait,

Hemet

Rusty Strait | Senior Reporter

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

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